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**samuraitrev** · 04-15-2023, 10:11 PM

Great to hear you've rediscovered the joys of painting minis. I'd love to see them but as the old saying goes, 'Never mix an Old Dwarf with new fangled techno wizardry, that way madness lies...'. The enjoyment you're getting from the painting comes through in your journal notes/ramblings on here. Please keep them up I read them with interest.

Happy painting Watchmen02

**Old Dwarf** · 04-16-2023, 04:07 PM

I took a day off from painting to do yard work & then recovering from said work
(bending over at my age is not for the faint of heart & getting back up off the ground from a
setting position is an adventure itself).

So this AM I gave the Spectral Walkers bases their Ash Grey drybrushing so I'll let them
set for at least a week before protecting them with spray varnish. I think I'll go ahead &
get a can of Gloss Varnish to use before the Matt Varnish is used as I'll need it for future
projects.

I'm back in a painting mood but where to start? I have Green Horde base with friends & Foes
Expansion plus + some monster figs, The World of Smog Moloch base & all Expansions,
Massive Darkness + with some expansions, Zombicide Dark Side+Black Ops,8 Bladeborn
Warbands & of course Cthulhu:Death May Die base & the 2nd KS Game coming in the Fall.

Probably Green Horde or Massive Darkness as I gave them the same Midnight setting as
Black Plague so it would be nice to have them all painted together.

Before that however I'll need to invest in some new paints & brushes.

OD

**samuraitrev** · 04-18-2023, 09:39 PM

Sounds like plenty to go at. I recommend Citadel Contrast paints. You can get amazing results with them with very little effort. I wish they'd been around in the early '90's when I started painting. Even my 8 year old has some pretty impressive results. However they do cost the Earth so there is that to consider. I use army painters brushes and I recommend cleaning them every time with 'The Masters Brush Cleaner'. My brushes are still going strong after years of heavy usage.

I've also heard good things about Army Painter's Speed Paints but I haven't tried them yet.

Happy painting Watchmen02

**Old Dwarf** · 04-19-2023, 08:02 PM

I use Army Painter Warpaints but still have some GW pots. I also use their brushes.
Maybe i'm hard on brushes as I usually only get 1 big project out of them.I do wash
& point them after use & store them correctly but after a proiect they do get their brussels
separated.

I'll have to check out Masters Brush cleaner.

OD

**Old Dwarf** · 04-29-2023, 11:37 AM

My Gloss varnish came today but the temperature/humidity are not ideal so I'm
waiting until conditions get better before proceeding. I had a bad experience with
spray varnish so I want to wait until conditions are ideal.

OD

Raynor · 04-29-2023, 05:18 PM

I flipped to paint on varnish with my most recent work and am pretty happy with how it turned out.

**Old Dwarf** · (This post was last modified: 05-05-2023 10:15 PM by Old Dwarf.)

(04-29-2023 05:18 PM)Raynor Wrote: I flipped to paint on varnish with my most recent work and am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I considered doing this but the spray stuff is so much faster.

OD

**samuraitrev** · 05-02-2023, 10:18 PM

Here's a top tip I wish someone would have told me years ago. Feel free to take it or leave it I only offer it up in the spirit of helping fellow hobbyists out.

1) Finish painting all of your miniature except the metallics (metallics just basecoated)
2) Spray varnish your mini. I recommend Testors Dullcote or GW's Munitorum Varnish
3) Highlight your metallics after the varnish

The reason I take these steps is; the metallics always lose some or lots of it's lustre after a varnish. I'm not talking about when sprayed in too cold or hot conditions, sprayed too close or sprayed to thickly. I've never found a better way of doing it. Including painting it on by hand.

Try it on two cheap minis.
Spray 1 after ALL painting is complete
Spray the other and highlight the metallics after. You may be surprised.

Something else to consider. The metallics on the edges are not protected by the varnish so that is a factor if you're going to handle them a lot. I have used this method for several years and haven't noticed any paint wearing off and I'm talking about 100 + games with some of them. I'd be interested in your thoughts and your results if you tried this method.

Happy painting all Watchmen02

Raynor · 05-04-2023, 02:37 PM

Great Advice! Thanks for the tips and tricks!

**Old Dwarf** · 05-10-2023, 02:40 PM

THE STARS ARE RIGHT!

I did my test fig Monday with a Spray Gloss & then Tuesday with a Spray Matt &
checked it today (Wednesday) & it turned out fine.

So later today I'll Spray Gloss Varnish the Spectral Walkers ,the Temperature is right &
the Humidity is low. Tomorrow is going to be the same so I'll do the Matt Spray then &
complete this project.

OD